UGA’s Terry College of Business MBA Director Peter Shedd named University Professor

Author: Matt Waldman

Published March 17, 2008

Peter J. Shedd, director of the Master of Business Administration program in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, has been awarded the title of University Professor.

The honor is reserved for UGA faculty who have had a significant impact on the university, in addition to fulfilling their normal academic responsibilities. This impact may be in the areas of policy development, teaching, curricular change, innovative programs or academic leadership. Additionally, it recognizes individuals whose actions as change-agents have improved the quality with which the university serves its missions. No more than one University Professor is named in any given year.

In addition to three decades of service as a professor of legal studies at the Terry College, Shedd has served in several administrative roles on campus, including as associate dean in the business school (1985-86), as executive assistant to the president (1986-88), and as associate vice president for instruction (1999-2003). Shedd has been director of the full-time MBA program at Terry College since 2006.

His extensive contributions to UGA include serving on more than 50 university committees, councils and boards. Shedd is a former chair of the University Council, a past member of the Georgia Athletic Association board of directors, and has been a member of the UGA Foundation's board of trustees since 2004. He served as the faculty advisor to the Blue Key National Honor Fraternity for 20 years, ending in 2007, and has been the faculty advisor to Sphinx since 1999. He also served as vice president of the University Employees Federal Credit Union's board of directors.

"Professor Shedd has contributed significantly to the advancement of quality instructional programs at the University of Georgia," said Arnett C. Mace Jr., senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. "He has been an outstanding instructor and mentor of young faculty and has contributed to curriculum development, among many other roles at UGA."

Terry College of Business Dean Robert T. Sumichrast also lauded Shedd's appointment. "Peter has a 30-year track record of excellence as a teacher, scholar and administrator for the Terry College and the entire University of Georgia," said Sumichrast. "The award of University Professor is a tribute to the knowledge, talent and leadership that he not only possesses individually, but also inspires in others. It is an honor that is richly deserved."

Shedd has the distinction of being one of the very few faculty members to have taught in all five of the Terry College's MBA programs: the full-time program in Athens, the Executive MBA and part-time Evening MBA programs in Atlanta, a customized MBA program for IBM Business Consulting Services, and a former customized MBA program for managers at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C.

At the graduate level, Shedd has most frequently taught courses in negotiations and the legal environment of business. He has been the recipient of outstanding teaching awards from the full-time, evening and IBM MBA programs, as voted on by students in those programs.

"It has been a privilege to spend my career at the Terry College of Business and the University of Georgia," Shedd said. "Good fortune has provided me many rewarding opportunities at the university, and to be recognized alongside the number of outstanding people who have received this distinction is a very special honor."

An alumnus of UGA with a bachelor's degree in business and a law degree, Shedd is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and the American Arbitration Association and is an experienced mediator and arbitrator.